“Whatever line he’s played on has been
productive,” the BU coach said. “I remember thinking to
myself after Christmas, it’s too bad we have to put Wade
Megan back on the third line, he doesn’t deserve to be there,
he’s been playing so well.

“And then it turns out I had a couple exits stage
right,” the coach said wryly in reference to the departures
of Charlie Coyle (Canadian major junior) and Corey Trivino
(arrested, dismissed), “and all of a sudden we needed him
back on the first line.”

There were zero regrets about that Monday night at TD
Garden.

Megan scored two goals in a little over six minutes to propel BU
to a 3-1 victory over Harvard in the evening’s first Beanpot
semifinal, and on to next Monday’s final against the winner
of the Boston College-Northeastern nightcap.

Matt Nieto staked the Terriers to an early lead, and 7:30 into
the second period, Megan scored his first, stuffing a pass from
Sean Escobedo between Harvard goaltender Steve Michalek’s
left leg and the post, making it 2-0.

Six minutes and 32 seconds later, Megan chopped a puck away from
a Harvard player to Sahir Gill, who fed it back to him along the
wall in the left corner. Megan walked out untouched and seemingly
unnoticed, roofing a backhand shot over Michalek’s left
shoulder to give BU a 3-0 lead.

Alex Killorn put the Crimson on the board with 4:33 to go in the
second after Marshall Everson picked Alex Chiasson’s pocket
and fed him for a strike, but Harvard got no closer, and extends
its Beanpot title drought to 19 years.

“We had some opportunities, some breakaways, some good
looks,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato, who is 3-16 as the
Crimson bench boss in the Beanpot, with just one appearance in the
final. Credit to (BU goaltender Kieran Millan), he made some big
saves.”

Millan (29 saves) indeed provided two of the game’s
biggest highlights. Shortly after Nieto opened the scoring in the
first period, Megan gave the puck away to dangerous Harvard
freshman Colin Blackwell (North Andover, Mass.), who went in alone
on Millan and very nearly beat him on the forehand. But Millan
managed to stretch back with his left leg and deny the tying
goal.

Millan also made a pair of saves with less than a minute left
and Harvard buzzing with an extra attacker. The first shot appeared
to go off Millan’s mask back to the slot, giving Alex
Fallstrom a grade-A chance, but Millan swallowed up
Fallstrom’s following shot to keep the score 3-1.

“I really felt that if we just somehow could have gotten
that second (goal),” Donato said, it would have kind of taken
some momentum and made the game a little bit different.”

Different is exactly what BU was looking for after two years of
frustration. Had the Terriers lost Monday night, it would have
marked the first time since 1983-85 that BU had gone three years
without a Beanpot title – something that borders on sacrilege
for the program that owns the most tournament titles (29).

Megan and his eight fellow juniors are the most tenured BU
players who haven’t lifted the squat silver pot on the second
Monday in February. Not only that, the Terriers were coming off one
of their worst Beanpot performances in recent history, having lost
in last year’s consolation final – the first time
in 48 years BU didn't win at least one Beanpot game.

“Definitely, last year kind of left a bitter taste in our
mouths,” Megan said. “We wanted to play in the late
game next Monday, and we knew this team was in our way, so we had
to play a good game.”

The Canton, N.Y., native and South Kent School product had just
one point in his first two Beanpots – a goal in last
year’s first-round loss to BC. Monday night, though, he was a
presence throughout, taking a game-high five shots, blocking one
shot and finishing with a plus-1 rating.

“He’s a very hard worker, doesn’t care what
line he’s on, and he’s going to get a lot of ice
time,” Parker said. “He’s out there for every
(penalty kill), he plays every single power play. He’s having
a terrific year.”